“Hey, gorgeous,” he said with a swoon-worthy smile.
“Hello, handsome,” I replied, grinning and placing a hand at the side of his neck as he came closer to kiss me.
I missed them so much today, and I was excited to spend the evening with them.
“Hungry? Ira and I are taking you to a nice little place we’re sure you’ll love,” he said, his hand on my waist.
“Very hungry,” I replied.
“We’re going to the Mexican restaurant,” Ira said, and I looked back down at him with a smile.
“Oh, I love Mexican food! What about you?”
“I love tacos.”
Simple, but a very, very important fact.
“I totally agree, buddy,” I said, grinning, and then realizing that I had called him by Wells’s nickname for him.
Neither of them seemed to mind though, and together we walked down the stairs to get to his car.
Once we were driving, we listened to Ira tell us all about the book he was reading, and we all learned a few more things about the Middle Ages.
It was a sound book, so instead of having to read it, which Ira wasn’t able to yet, we listened to the man speaking about knights, medieval clothes and other things.
I liked how wide his span of interests was, and for once he wasn’t talking about superheroes.
Not that he bothered anyone with that, but he was a smart kid and kept so much information in his brain after listening to something new.
“All right, bud. You can take one of the other books with you, but you won’t be able to hear anything in there with the medieval book,” Wells said.
“Okay, I take this one,” he said, showing us his book about reptiles.
I wondered if Wells had already decided on what kind of pet to get him, as it would be a nice Christmas present for Ira.
Once we got inside and sat down at the table, we already ordered something to drink and then looked at the menu to figure out what we wanted to eat.
“I’ve checked on their website to see if they have some sort of nutrition board for their food items, and luckily they did,” Wells explained, looking up from the menu.
I nodded and looked at Ira as he held up his finger to let us know he was about to talk.
“I can eat a beef taco and a vegetable taco,” he told me.
Wells was very careful with what Ira eats, and although it might be too much supervising, I thought it was a good thing that he monitored his son’s diet.
“That sounds really delicious. Maybe I’ll have a beef taco as well,” I said, smiling at him.
It didn’t take us long to choose our dinner, and to our surprise, it came quicker than expected.
“So, tell me. How was class today?” Wells asked as he pulled Ira closer to the table on his chair.
“It was fun. We got to see all the other students’ paintings they worked on for the past few weeks, and it was nice seeing the different styles and inspirations on the canvases.”
“You need to show me all of your paintings one day. I’m sure you have some sort of picture gallery on your phone, hm?”
“Actually, I take a polaroid of every painting and put the picture in a box. Ira’s is in there too,” I said with a smile.
“Bring that box with you sometime. I wanna see the pictures.”
I nodded and took a bite of my taco, then I remembered what happened this morning and sighed.
“Remember how I told you about that couple wanting to invest in Evie and me? Well, they bought the building and want it to be ready in a month. Evie’s parents have put money into the renovations, but I don’t know how Evie and I could run a gallery while we’re still in college,” I said, starting to freak out a little bit.
“Well, it’s just a gallery, right? Be there whenever you have time to. Or need to. I don’t think it’s necessary for an art gallery to be open twenty-four-seven if the artists aren’t available at that time.”
I nodded at his statement, puckering my lips and thinking about it before replying. “Besides…Evie and I wanted to work there once we’ve graduated. Take commissions and maybe hold a few events to show off our art.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me. You’re still in college. You’ll have enough time to figure things out, but I think it’s great that you already found someone who wants to